


The Birthday Gift

by acclaimedwriter



Category: Casualty (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-04-03 17:07:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21483421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acclaimedwriter/pseuds/acclaimedwriter
Summary: Charlie gives Duffy a birthday gift to remember. Set after their separation. [Contains sexual scenes, not suitable for anyone under 18yrs old]
Relationships: Lisa "Duffy" Duffin/Charlie Fairhead
Kudos: 7





	The Birthday Gift

Duffy exhaled as she closed her locker and rested her head against it for a moment. Another year older, but no wiser. Just more sensible (in a sense) but that never was the same thing, was it? She dropped her handbag to the floor and moved, to put on her coat. It was colder than normal for March and she retrieved her bag from the floor. Hitching it over her shoulder, she took a glance around the staff room before she left. In her haste to leave, she collided with Charlie.

“I’m so sorry.” She whispered as she looked up. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she bit her lower lip.

“I should look where I’m going.” Charlie answered, “you’re just the person I was after actually.”

“I am?”

“Uh huh.” He glanced around and it was only then that Duffy noticed his hands were behind his back. Almost immediately she frowned, wondering what he was up too. He moved his hands to reveal a card, holding it out for her.

“I wanted to give you this.”

Duffy swallowed. She hadn’t expected to receive anything from Charlie this year, not after their separation just before Christmas. She hesitated for a moment.

“I-erm..”

“Sorry I…” His words came to a halt when Duffy accepted the card from his hands and kissed his cheek. He closed his eyes, momentarily getting lost into how her lips felt against his skin again.

“Thank you Charlie.”

As she stepped back, she studied Charlie for a couple of seconds. She couldn’t deny that even now, his presence gave her butterflies. Charlie’s eyes opened and he met Duffy’s gaze, swallowing nervously. She had beautiful eyes, he could recall when he first noticed that they sparkled in the light. Neither of them knew what to do. Both were tempted to break apart, to walk away from their current situation. However, there was something that kept them there, just holding each other’s gaze. Duffy chewed her lower lip again, something she only did when nervous and took a closer step towards Charlie. He knew he should move away but he couldn’t. As always, he was drawn to her. 

She moved closer, hoping he wouldn’t reject her advances for a birthday kiss. Thankfully, as her lips met Charlie’s, he threaded his hand into her hair and pulled her body closer, deepening the kiss. One of Duffy’s arms moved to hang loosely around Charlie’s neck, their kiss increasing with passion. Until suddenly they broke apart, remembering exactly where they were. Duffy stepped back and giggled nervously, licking her thumb and removing the traces of lipstick from Charlie’s lips.

Charlie smiled. He caught her eye once more, dipped his head to kiss her again and asked; “do you want to go for a drink?”

“Hmm, why not?”

They shyly smiled at one another before Duffy agreed to wait for Charlie outside. Whilst outside, she looked down at the card that she was still clutching and peeled open the envelope. The card was a simple design, ‘to my wife’ displayed on the front. Duffy’s eyes brimmed with tears. Did he still consider her his wife after everything she’d done?

He crept up behind her and gently placed his hands on her shoulders. A loud squeal escaped Duffy’s lips as she jumped before she shot round, glaring at Charlie. She pouted.

“That wasn’t very nice, Charlie!”

He smiled as he caught her gaze, moving his eyes to look at her lips. Duffy placed the card in her handbag and wrapped her coat tighter around her.

“Cold?” He asked as they began to walk in the direction of the pub.

“Uh huh,” she nodded, “just a bit.”

There was a comfortable silence between the pair as they walked to the pub. He held the door open for her and followed her into the pub.

“Usual?”

“Please.” She lent up to kiss his cheek again, “I’ll go and find us a table.”

She located a quiet table at the right of the bar and began to remove her coat. Hooking it over the back of the chair, she sat down at the table and began to tap her nails against the table. A couple of minutes later she was joined by Charlie. He placed the drinks on the table, removed his own jacket and sat down opposite.

“Happy birthday darling.”

She smiled, taking the wine glass and taking a small sip. Duffy was grateful things were civil between them but she couldn’t understand why he was been so nice to her. Especially seeing as she broke his heart.

“Charlie?”

“Yes?”

She paused for a moment. “Why are you been so nice to me? After everything I’ve done?”

Charlie sighed. He hadn’t expected that question so hadn’t thought of the answer before now. He reached for her hand, gave it a squeeze and responded; “because you’re my wife and I love you.”

She swallowed hard. Her eyes began to fill with tears and he smiled sadly. “I booked us a weekend away for your birthday. I thought… maybe we could, um, use the time to talk? Unless you don’t want too?”

“No!” She shook her head, “I’d.. I’d like that, very much.” She smiled shyly.

The following weekend, they went away to the cottage Charlie had booked as a surprise. She’d spent the previous twenty four hours, anxiously deciding what was best to wear, what was appropriate and what wasn’t. The journey to cottage was quiet, Charlie and Duffy engaged in small talk but they mostly listened to the radio. Duffy began to play with her hands in her lap, fiddling with her fingernails. Charlie’s hand gently rested on her knee, gave it a reassuring squeeze and withdrew his hand. They soon pulled up outside the cottage and Duffy looked up. It was a big cottage, surrounded by countryside with the sea that could be seen from the garden. There was a beautiful front garden, dandelions beginning to grow in the grass around the edges of the fence.

“It’s beautiful.” She said quietly as she undid her seatbelt and got out of the car. Charlie mirrored her actions and smiled, closing the door and moved to the boot.

“Wait until you see inside.”

Inside the cottage was beautiful. Living room and kitchen on the first floor, bathroom and study on the second and their bedroom on the third floor. The bedroom was the most stunning room of the entire house! In the bedroom, he’d decorated the room romantically, hoping it would be an enough to make her feel special and worthwhile again. He’d wanted to go all out for her birthday weekend. Duffy bit her lower lip in a desperate attempt to stop the tears from falling. Charlie noticed the unshed tears in her eyes and stepped towards her. 

“Is it too much? I’m sorry, I didn’t think..”

She shook her head and brushed away the stray tear from her cheek. It wasn’t too much, it was perfect. She just couldn’t believe the effort he’d gone too. She didn’t deserve this. She broke down in tears which did nothing to reassure Charlie. He wrapped his arms around her and held her, his hand running through her hair.

“I wanted you to feel special.” He whispered which only caused Duffy to cry harder. She didn’t deserve any of this, she was a bitch who’d broken his heart by cheating on him. She didn’t deserve his love or kindness. She couldn’t stop crying, despite her best efforts and Charlie continues to soothe her.

He kissed the top of her head, guided her over to the sofa and sat beside her. She curled her legs beside her and rested her head against his shoulder. Neither of them spoke or moved, the gently sniffs of Duffy filling the silence that had grown between them.

“I don’t deserve any of this.” She swallowed, “I want a divorce.”

Charlie swallowed hearing her words. A divorce? No, he wasn’t giving up that easily. He shook his head.

“Not happening, Duffy!”

She moved and began to fiddle with her hands again. “It’s my decision.”

“And I’m not prepared to give up this easily!”

“I want a divorce!” She repeated. She stood up, moving towards the fireplace, “it’s better for us both.”

Charlie scoffed. Was she been serious? How was a divorce going to be better for them both? “I’m not divorcing you! You can serve me the papers all you want but to hell, am I signing them!”

She got angry at that. How dare he tell her that! She wanted him to give up! She wanted him to tell her she was all the things she thought she was. Worthless, damaged, a cheat. Make this so much easier than what it was.

“You’ve got no right to do that, Charlie!!”

“And you’ve no right to give up on us!!”

She laughed angrily, “I didn’t, did I? It was you. It was you who walked away from me!! So don’t come crawling back to me when you can’t get your leg over some other woman!!”

He rubbed the back of his neck and replied, “I can shag any woman I want, not to brag or anything. But none of them are you!!”

“Still not denying you walked away though, are you?”

He stood up and moved towards her, “I was hurt! I was angry! You cheated on you. You shagged another bloke. Tell me was he as good between the sheets as I am? Hit the right spot?”

“Uh!! You’re unbelievable Charlie!!” She answered back, her anger raising every minute they argued. “You’re such a cocky bastard!! What if I told you, he was better!!!”

Charlie laughed, “if that was true, you wouldn’t be crawling back to my bed most nights, would you?!”

The sound of slapped flesh echoed around the room and Duffy’s eyes widened as she realised she’d slapped Charlie across the face. She’d never hurt him before…

“Charlie…” she whispered.

“Shut up.” He told her as he met her gaze. Duffy’s heart skipped a beat. His eyes were dilated with lust, an emotion she hadn’t seen for a while. 

She swallowed.

“Look me in the eye and tell me, you want a divorce. Say it!”

She swallowed again and held his gaze. “I want a divorce.” However, at the last minute just before she said the words divorce, she faltered and looked away. Charlie’s fingers moved under her chin and brought her gaze back to his.

“I didn’t think so.” He whispered before he kissed her. Duffy didn’t respond for a second before she deepened the kiss and moved closer to him. She tugged at his shirt buttons, ripping the shirt open, her hands gliding over his chest.

“Punish me Charlie.” She whispered against his lips. Charlie picked her up, carrying her to the bedroom and dropped her on the bed in the middle of the rose petals. He crawled between her legs, kissing her again but this time much rougher than before. He removed her jeans, her underwear and her top, leaving her in just her bra. His mouth moved to the sensitive spot just above her collarbone and bit it hard, marking her as his.

“Charlie,” she whispered, goosebumps appearing on her body in anticipation of what Charlie was going to do next. She gasped as she felt Charlie’s index finger ran up and down her folds.

“Always knew arguing with me, made you wet.” He whispered.

“Coming from the person struggling to contain his erection in his trousers.” She murmured.

A couple of minutes later, they were engaging in rough sex in the middle of the bed. Duffy’s nails ran down Charlie’s back, leaving deep scratches, her moans become louder the harder and faster Charlie moved. His hand applied light pressure against her throat and she groaned louder.

“Charlie!” She mumbled, arching her hips into him. “Yes!!”

He slowed his movements and removed his hand from her throat, flipping her around so he was underneath and she was on top. She sat up and groaned again, moving her hands and placing them on Charlie’s chest. She rocked her hips against her penis, slightly bouncing up and down, his fingertips stroking up and down her sides. A couple of minutes later, they both reached their climax, calling each other’s names.

She collapsed forward onto Charlie’s chest as she breathed heavily from reaching her climax. Charlie’s fingers began to thread into Duffy’s hair, playing with her hair. She kissed his chest and whispered, “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

She moved herself onto his lap, her head on his chest. He grabbed the duvet and wrapped it over them. Holding her tightly in his arms, he closed his eyes for a minute and kissed the top of her head.She could hear the beat of Charlie’s heart against her cheek and smiled sadly. She’d forgotten just how much his heart soothed and settled her. Duffy began to trace patterns on Charlie’s chest.

“I don’t want a divorce.” She whispered and swallowed hard.

Charlie placed another kiss against her hair, “that’s good because neither do I.” He paused, “I love you Duffy. I forgive you for what you did.”

“Don’t say anything you’ll regret.” She whispered in response and he shook his head.

“I forgive you.” He paused again, “I just wish you’d learn to forgive yourself.”

Duffy shook her head, “that’ll never happen.” She whispered in response. She lifted her head up to meet his eye, her own eyes filling with tears again like they did earlier.

“I hurt you Charlie.” She swallowed as a tear rolled down her cheek. He gently wiped the tear away with his thumb, rubbing her cheek.

“I know. I’m not going to say it didn’t hurt but—“ he smiled and kissed her lips, “I want us to move on from it, together, as husband and wife.”

Duffy began to bite her lower lip hard. She swallowed. It wasn’t that easy was it, to move on, to forgive. If she was ill with dementia, he needed to know that she’d no longer be the woman he fell in love with. However, she found herself agreeing.

“Together.” She answered and settled herself back on Charlie’s chest. Things would be better together, she believed that, even if she knew at some point she’d break him again with her illness. 


End file.
